Tubular article



Dec. 31, 1940. I H. s. RIDDLE arm. 2,227,275

Patented Dec. 31, 1940 UNITED STATES 'reur race field, Mass., Company, aware assignors to Monsanto Chemical St. Louis, MO., a corporation of Del- Application August 3,1233, serial No. 222.869

S Claims.

This invention relates to tubular articles which can be used, for example, for the body of pens, pencils and the like.

Heretofore, tubuiar bodies for this purpose have been produced from metal tubes, such as gold or silver or from tubes of other metals coated with an attractive coating. Such articles also had been produced from plastic materials, such as cellulose nitrate or other cellulose derivatives and resins, such as a phenol formaldehyde resin. In making these articles from plastic materials, the practice has been to form a tube by boring a rod axially or by winding a decorated ribbon of the plastic material upon a mandrel and cementing the adjacent windings together by the use of a cement or solvent for the plastic material. The plastic material from which such articles have been made usually had a mottled or pearly appearance. The present invention contemplates the production of tubular bodies having a distinctly different appearance from those bodies which it has been possible to produce using previously known methods. The article of the invention has a visible colored band or filament embedded therein. preferably of generally spiral form. Preferably, the outer surface of the article is ribbed or wavy, and these waves or ribs function like lenses so as to give the article difierent appearances depending upon the angle at which it is viewed.

The invention will be more clearly understood from the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig, l is a perspective view of a mandrel for use in the practice of one step in the method of producing the article of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a mandrel carrythe product produced by the step illustrated in Fig. 1 and illustrating the practice of the second step of the method of the invention;

3 is a perspective view of a mandrel carryins; he product produced by the second step of the method and illustrating the practice of the th rd step of the method of the invention;

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 illustrating the practice of a modification of the third step of the method of the invention; and

Fig. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of the final product produced by the practice of the invention.

The embodiments of the invention as shown in the accompanying drawing are merely for the purpose of illustration and it is not intended that the invention shall be limited thereby. Various modifications'within the scope and spirit of the invention will beobvious and readily apparent to those skilled inthe art in the light of the following description.

Referring to 1 of the accompanying draw- 5 ing, the preferred practice in producing the article of theinvention comprises winding an extruded filament or rod Ill of plastic material, such as cellulose nitrate, having a diameter of about 0.030" upon the mandrel H having a diameter of substantially the inner diameter of the tube to be produced. The windings then may be secured together by dipping in. a cement or solvent forthe plastic material. If desired, however, the windings may be secured to the mandrel fastening the free ends of the filament thereto. Instead ofusing only one filament, two or more filaments may be wound simultaneously upon the mandrel, In this way the pitch of the spiral formed by each filament can be increased. A second filament I2 is now wound upon the body produced illustrated in Fig. 1 so as to be positioned in the grooves I3 or hollows between adjacent windings of the filament ill. The filament I2 is colored so as to be visible in the final product and has a diameter preferably such that it will substantially fill the grooves It. In practice, a filament l2 having a diameter of 0.010" has been found satisfactory. The filament It may be rayon, silk or metal wire or any colored thread or filament. The article as thus produced may then be dipped in a cement or solvent for the plastic material ill, or the filament [2 may be suitably secured to the mandrel II. If the article is dipped in a cement or solvent for the plastic material and the article dried, a product of pleasing unique appearance is obtained.

Preferably, however, another layer of transpar- V out plastic material is formed upon the article by winding thereupon a rod It of transparent plas- 4O tic material as illustrated in Fig. 3. If the article as produced in Fig. 2 has not previously been dipped in a cement or solvent for the plastic material, such cement or solvent is applied upon the body of the article during the winding thereon of the rod i l and thus fills the void between the windings l4 and the windings H) and I2. The article is then permitted to dry and is removed from the mandrel H.

The article thus produced will have somewhat the appearance illustrated in section in Fig. 5. The inner surface it will be ribbed due to the shapeoi the filament H] but the size of the ribs will depend upon the tension applied to the filiment it? during winding and to other conditions 'of small lenses so that the filament l2 when viewed therethrough either will be clearly defined or its color diffused over a substantial area,

depending upon the angle of view.

A still different appearance can be imparted to the final product by a variation of the step in the method of making the article illustrated in Fig. 3. Thus, if instead of winding the rod [4 in the same direction as the rod ID as illustrated in Fig. 3, the rod I4 is replaced by a similar rod M, as illustrated in Fig. 4, which is wound in a direction opposite to or crossing the winding of rod ID, an entirely different light effect is obtained and the article will have an entirely different distinctive appearance. Thus, when the articles produced as illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4 are viewed from an angle substantially perpendicular to the axis of the tube, the filament [2 will be clearly defined. When the article made as illustrated in Fig. 3 is viewed from a sharp angle, the color of the filament l2 will be diffused in an irregular more or less zig-zag pattern. If the article made as illustrated in Fig. 4 is viewed from a similar sharp angle, the color of the filament l2 will be diffused more or less uniformly throughout the body of the article. As the angle of view of this article changes from this sharp angle to approach a right angle with the axis of the tube, a point will be reached where the appearance of the tube will change almost instantly from that where the color of the filament is substantially uniformly diffused throughout the article to that where the filament is clearly defined. In the case of the article as constructed in Fig. 3, there will be no sudden change in appearance as the angle of view is similarly changed.

If the outer surface of the article produced by the procedure illustrated in Figs. 3 and. 4 is machined to remove the ribs, an article of very pleasing appearance is obtained. Furthermore, the irregular or ribbed outer surface of the article may be produced by machining or molding or by other mechanical expedients.

angle to said ribs.

We claim:

1. A tubular article comprising a tubular body having spaced bands of different color, and a transparent body covering the tubular body and having a ribbed outer surface.

2. A tubular article having a spiral shaped visible filament embedded therein, said article having a ribbed outer surface.

3. A tubular article having a visible spiral filament embedded therein, the adjacent convolutions of said spiral filament being spaced, said article having a ribbed outer surface.

4. A tubular article of unique appearance having integral inner and outer portions, said inner portion having a plurality of different bands in which the adjacent bands are of diiferent color, said outer portion being transparent and having ribs upon its surface.

5. A tubular article of unique appearance having integral inner and outer portions, said inner portion having spirally arranged bands in which the adjacent bands are of different color, said outer portion being transparent and having ribs upon its outer surface.

6. A tubular article of unique appearance having integral inner and outer portions, said inner portion having spirally arranged bands in which the adjacent bands are of different colorQsaid outer portion being transparent and having ribs upon its outer surface arranged in spiral configuration.

'7. A tubular article of unique appearance having integral inner and outer portions, said inner portion having spirally arranged bands in which the adjacent bands are of different color, said outer portion being transparent and having ribs upon its outer surface arranged in spiral configuration, said bands extending at an angle to said ribs.

8. A tubular article of unique appearance having integral inner and outer portions, said inner portion having a plurality of diiferent bands in which the adjacent. bands are of different color, said outer portion being transparent and having ribs upon its surface, said bands extending at an HERBERT S. RIDDLE. CHARLES E. KNIGHT. 

